


The Letter

by LastRecordingHome



Category: Twilight (Movies), Twilight Series - All Media Types, Twilight Series - Stephenie Meyer
Genre: Family Feels, Father-Daughter Relationship, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-28
Updated: 2018-10-28
Packaged: 2019-08-09 02:03:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,159
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16440926
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LastRecordingHome/pseuds/LastRecordingHome
Summary: Four decades after her transformation into a vampire, Bella receives a letter  and Carlisle is there to offer a shoulder to lean on.





	The Letter

**Author's Note:**

> Just a little one shot set about 40 years after the events of 'Breaking Dawn'. This is my first fic in... some years! Any thoughts, feelings, comments would be appreciated.
> 
> Standard disclaimers apply.

The paper in Bella’s hands felt impossibly heavy. The sensitive pads of her fingers picked up every bump and groove on its surface as she rubbed her thumb absently across the edge of the page, considering the weight of the words in front of her. She turned her head to look out of the old, lead-mullion window beside her and drew her knees up to her chest, sighing deeply. The need to breathe hadn’t been a necessity for Bella for over 40 years now, but the action was soothing in its humanity. She wondered if perhaps she had been human, the news in the letter would have brought tears to her eyes. She could almost remember the sensation of water spilling over her cheeks and gathering under her chin. Almost. 

The Cullens had long since departed the rainy, backwater town of Forks Washington, and had indeed lived in several places over the last 4 decades, never staying anywhere long enough for people to question their unchanging faces. They currently resided in the equally rainy and impossibly more remote Backbone of England, among the Pennine mountains. She had to admit that the landscape that stretched for miles around their home was stunning, even breath-taking, if one had the breath to spare. The valleys and peaks covered in thick heather, ranging in colour from the lightest of purples, barely darker than her own pale skin, to the deep, rich russet of autumn leaves. But she still yearned for the tall pines of North America. 

The move to England had been long overdue, according to Carlisle, who was worried that he was becoming too well known among the medical community in the rainier, more vampire friendly areas of America. So the Forks house, like all of the Cullen’s American properties were prepared for a long absence, and their furniture was shipped to their new home. Moving back to England had provided a sense of catharsis for the patriarch of the Cullen coven, coming home after hundreds of years of running from the demons of his human life. Of course they couldn’t move to London, his old stomping ground, because of the dense population. The first sunny day, which despite popular myth, did happen fairly regularly, and they would be trapped within the confines of their house. So to the mountains they had gone, buying an old manor house a 20 minute drive from the nearest town. It was a remarkable house, dating back to 1634, just 6 years before Carlisle himself was born for the first time. 

Moving away from Forks had been an emotional experience for Bella, leaving her home and saying goodbye to Charlie. But they had already stayed longer than was strictly safe, the younger members of the coven trying to pass as being in their mid-20’s. People were starting to talk, rumours of plastic surgery were being circulated. Bella was becoming hardened to the process of moving by this, their seventh move, though she’d still been apprehensive about the prospect of leaving America. New paperwork had to be forged, a hospital placement had to be found for Carlisle, a school found for the ‘children’. 

Bella had kept in touch with Charlie at first, letters, emails, phone calls. The calls were the first to go, as Charlie got older, Bella found it harder and harder to hear his voice changing, becoming slower and noticeably so much older. After that, the correspondence gradually came to a stop, she figured it would be easier for him that way, if she just faded away. He’d made a good life for himself after her departure from Forks; married Sue Clearwater, become step-father to Leah and Seth and watched them grow and have families of their own. 

It was Seth who had written her the letter that dangled limply from her hand as she watched the first of the January snowfalls drift so slowly past the window, she could almost imagine that time had slowed. 

Charlie had passed away. 

It was peaceful, he’d gone to sleep one day and just never woken up… he would have been about 86 years old by her calculations, a good age. Especially for someone who lived off of diner food and beer. Sue had whipped him into shape as much as she could but she couldn’t erase the 40 years of bad habits that had set in before she came into the picture. 

She couldn’t go back for his funeral, couldn’t risk showing her face, frozen in time as it was. She never got a chance to say goodbye. 

She could have sworn there was a tell-tale prickle at the corner of her eye, warning of tears to come, though she knew it was just her imagination, her mind playing tricks on her. She buried her face him her knees all the same and tightened her grip on the letter, feeling it scrunch between her fingertips. 

“Bella…?” She hadn’t heard anyone enter the room, but she recognised the soothing tones of her adoptive father/father-in-law Carlisle as he came to perch on the edge of the window seat she was occupying. She lifted her head and gave him a tired smile, her eyes drifting back to the snow, her perfect vision picking out each individual snowflake as it fluttered past. He placed a comforting hand on her knee and squeezed gently. 

“Is everything okay?” He asked, waiting patiently when she didn’t immediately respond, her eyes still following the snowflakes outside the window.  
“He’s gone… Charlie, he passed away.” She finally answered, passing him the letter without shifting her gaze. He took it and quickly scanned the writing, smoothing out the creases left by Bella’s fingers as he went.

“I’m sorry… It’s a curse, watching your loved ones fade away. It’s a wound only time can heal.” 

Bella unwrapped her arms from around her legs so that she could shuffle herself around and bring herself up beside the older man. Carlisle automatically lifted his arm so that she could nestle herself into his side and wrapped his hand around her, drawing her closer. She let her head fall to his shoulder and closed her eyes, wishing she could shed a tear, even just one, for her lost father. 

Carlisle held her like this in silence, not feeling the need to interrupt her thoughts. There had been no love lost between himself and his own father, and his mother had died in childbirth, but throughout his long, lonely life he’d watched friends wither and die, and each time he felt his petrified heart ache with loss. It didn’t get easier, though the memory of them faded with time. 

He simply pressed his lips to the crown of her head and continued to hold her, hoping his presence would go some way to soothing her wounds.  
Bella’s voice was soft even to his enhanced hearing when she spoke again, but all the same it warmed his heart. 

“Thanks Dad.” 

“Always, sweetheart.”

**Author's Note:**

> I have some ideas to take this further, let me know what you think and if you want this to be any more than a one-shot.  
> Thanks for reading! 
> 
> C.


End file.
